Las Vegas gets a little more colorful with the re-launch of Pop! Goes the Icon as a boutique print and online publishing house, specializing in sequential art — both in traditional pamphlet form (comic books) and as online presentations (webcomics) — as well as prose books, posters, prints and other art collectibles. Pop! Goes the Icon can be found online at http://www.popgoestheicon.com.
Pop! Goes the Icon (or PGTI as we affectionately refer to it) might be a familiar name, most associated with an irreverent Las Vegas-based blog covering comic books, pop culture and other geek news. Launched in 2007 by writer, musician and web wizard Pj Perez, PGTI built a solid web following before Perez temporarily turned over the blog to fellow Vegas-based journalist, poet and comic geek Jarret Keene in late 2008.
Behind the scenes, however, the wily multimedia creator was covertly working on the full-fledged realization of what PGTI was intended to be: A hub for new comic book, non-fiction and art projects for independent and upcoming creators. Mainly by that Pj Perez guy.
The first online offering from PGTI is The Utopian, a weekly, serialized graphic novel written and drawn by Perez. The strip, which launched April 15, follows high school senior James Douglas, whose dissatisfaction with his unremarkable life – and the injustices he perceives around him – leads the nearly invisible teenager to make change happen. But plagued with strange, recurring dreams, fate may have other plans for James. The Utopian webcomic is updated every Wednesday at http://www.theutopiancomic.com.
About Pj Perez
Pj Perez is a writer, editor and musician, best known for his reports and commentary on Las Vegas culture in such publications as Rolling Stone, 944 and ART + Living. A two-decade resident of Southern Nevada, Perez was the founding managing editor of Vegas-based Racket magazine and is currently Las Vegas Fine Arts Examiner for Examiner.com. He also plays drums in alt-rock band As Yet Unbroken, the latest project in a long association with the Vegas music scene that includes stints in bands Morgana Athena and Rahne.
